REDLANDS – Hundreds of donor names cover two Walls of Honor at the LifeStream blood donation center and at the top is resident Larry Bloemsma, who reached his 100th gallon Wednesday and set the bar for others to follow.

Staff and family members gathered to watch this the donation at the San Bernardino location and a celebratory reception followed the milestone.

“I think it’s awesome,” said son Gordon Bloemsma. “I think it’s incredible, what can I say? He’s at the top of the list.”

Bloemsma has given an estimated 450 times since he moved to Redlands in 1964. He and his wife, Lil, come to the center every two weeks and she said she waits in the canteen until he’s finished.

“I can give five and six gallons a year because I’m really healthy,” Larry said.

The blood that is received from him and other donors fills the inventory of hospitals and goes toward a variety of surgeries and procedures, like treating cancer patients, said Diane Eklund, LifeStream doctor.

“Red cells are used to make sure you can carry enough oxygen just to keep your tissue healthy,” she said.

People can manually donate an entire sample or donate blood components through an automated machine, which take out platelets and plasma and returns the rest of the blood back into the body.

“We never take all of anything from someone,” Eklund said. “We only take a small portion.”

The entire process takes about an hour and Lil has accompanied Larry since they were married 24 years ago.

“I just quitely read and relax in the canteen room,” she said. “I don’t even come out here while he’s giving blood because I don’t want to distract him.”

By donating blood, Bloemsma has confidentially helped hundreds of people, but there was one brain cancer patient that was determined to meet him.

Lil said Brittinie was 16 when she left a note at LifeStream requesting to meet Larry. Once they received it, the couple talked to Brittinie’s mother and went to the hospital to visit her.

“She lost all her hair and her eyebrows,” Larry said. “She was all skin and bone.”

After meeting her, the Bloemsma’s and some friends donated blood directly to her, Lil said. She got worse before she got better, but she survived.

“She’s in college and she’s doing really well now,” Lil said.

Gordon said that even as a child his father taught him to work passionately and be giving. He has adopted Larry’s good will by becoming a foster parent with his wife.

“That’s how we’re giving back,” he said.

Knowing that he is helping others is the main reason why Larry keeps donating and he said he doesn’t plan on stopping.

“These girls will take it on my last breathe,” he said. “They’ll say `as long as he’s beathing, bring him out.”‘